The invention relates to a construction technique for facilitating the rapid assembly of large structures at any site, both terrestrial and extra terrestrial.
There is often a need or a desire to build large structures in locations which are extremely remote, or at least difficult to reach from established areas of civilization. This need or desire has become more intense in recent times as man seeks to explore and exploit areas never before inhabited or developed by him. Such areas might include the arctic or desert regions of the world, or even the vast open expanses of outer space. A typical example of such large structures would be any one of the facilities used to house the machinery and laborers required to carry out manufacturing operations in remote areas, e.g., a manufacturing facility used to remove oil and gas resources located in a relatively remote area such as the wilderness of Alaska.
A more exotic example might be one of the extra-terrestrial structures planned for future specific applications in outer space or for the general exploitation of the resources located there. The ideas for such structures are not new since the design concepts for them have been developed over the last decade, prompted by studies sponsored by the National Aeronautics Space Administration (NASA).
In addition to such regularly planned remote construction projects, there may often be a need to quickly provide large structures in remote areas on short notice in response to emergencies.
For example, there may be a need to provide temporary barracks structures for housing soldiers stationed in remote areas for extended periods of time in response to an emergency situation; or there may be a need to provide emergency shelters in disaster areas on short notice to accommodate large numbers of victims of storms, floods or like catastrophes, or even refugees.
Attending the construction of any of these large structures in such remote areas, in addition to the normal problems associated with any large construction project, are the economic constraints associated with transporting building materials, machinery and labor to such areas, and with supporting extended on-site construction activity in such areas.
Such economic constraints become particularly acute when the selected construction site is in outer space where a major portion of the cost of any project is associated with putting the material in orbit and with supporting extended construction activity there. If such constraints are deemed to be too prohibitive, certain proposed structures may never be built, or delayed indefinitely because of the prohibitive cost of their construction.